• One in three companies in Germany now uses AI – almost twice as many as a year ago
• Eight out of ten companies see AI as the most important technology of the future
• 93 per cent would prefer an AI provider from Germany

Artificial intelligence has become widespread in the German economy in recent months. Around one in three companies (36 per cent) now uses AI. This is almost twice as high as a year ago, when the figure was 20 per cent. In addition, almost every second company (47 per cent) is currently planning or discussing the use of AI, which is also significantly more than in the previous year (37 per cent). In contrast, only 17 per cent say that AI is not an issue for them, down from 41 per cent in the previous year. These are the results of a representative survey of 604 companies in Germany with 20 or more employees commissioned by the digital association Bitkom. ‘Artificial intelligence has made a breakthrough in the German economy,’ says Bitkom President Dr Ralf Wintergerst. “Companies have not only recognised the possibilities of AI, they are using AI and investing in it. This is good news for the competitiveness and future viability of the German economy.”

Opportunities and prospects for AI dominate

Eight out of ten companies (81 per cent) are now certain that AI is the most important technology of the future (2024: 73 per cent), while only 17 per cent consider it to be a passing hype (2024: 26 per cent). For the first time, a narrow majority of 51 per cent believe that companies that do not use AI have no future (2024: 48 per cent). Conversely, only 31 per cent still believe that AI looks spectacular but has no concrete benefits for their company. A year ago, the proportion was significantly higher at 46 per cent.

Looking at their own companies, 83 per cent see AI as an opportunity, compared to only 78 per cent a year ago and just 68 per cent in 2023. Only 14 per cent see AI as more of a risk, and just 1 per cent believe that AI has no impact on their own company. Around a quarter (24 per cent) believe that AI will change their own business model. Almost as many (23 per cent) are concerned that AI will jeopardise the existence of their company. ‘AI offers companies huge opportunities, regardless of their size and industry. The biggest danger is simply ignoring AI and missing the AI train,’ says Wintergerst.

29 per cent of companies want to increase their AI investments

In the current year, 8 per cent of companies that use AI, plan to use it or are discussing its use want to invest significantly more in AI than in 2024. A further 21 per cent are planning to increase their investments. In contrast, only 5 per cent want to reduce their investments, and no company wants to cut them significantly. Four per cent have never invested and have no plans to do so, meaning they are obviously only using free offers. The vast majority, 60 per cent, are keeping their AI investments stable at the previous year’s level. ‘Getting started with AI has never been cheaper for companies. There are a number of free offers available to give you an initial overview of the possibilities,’ says Wintergerst. ‘However, particularly powerful and legally compliant AI that is specifically tailored to the needs of the respective company and deeply integrated into the company’s IT system does not come for free.’

AI use: customer contact and communication dominate

AI is used predominantly in customer contact (88 per cent) and in marketing and communication (57 per cent). This is followed at a considerable distance by the use of AI in research and development (21 per cent), within production processes (20 per cent), in controlling and accounting (17 per cent), in human resources (14 per cent) and in internal knowledge management (11 per cent). AI is hardly used in management, legal or tax departments and sales (5 per cent each) or in IT departments (2 per cent). Around one in eight companies (12 per cent) that use AI implement artificial intelligence in their own products and services. ‘Many companies are still using AI on a selective basis. With the initial experience and know-how that this generates within the company, further fields of application can be developed. This is the only way to exploit the full potential of AI,’ says Wintergerst.

The mostly selective use of AI is reflected in the number of AI applications used in companies. A quarter of companies (24 per cent) that use AI use only one application, another 27 per cent use two applications and 24 per cent use three applications. Only 6 per cent use four applications, and only 2 per cent use five or more applications. 17 per cent are unable or unwilling to provide any information on this.

20 per cent expect AI to lead to fewer jobs, 7 per cent expect it to lead to more

It is currently difficult to estimate what impact AI will have on the labour market. The vast majority (67 per cent) of companies in Germany expect AI to have no impact on the number of employees. One-fifth (20 per cent) believe that AI will lead to a decline in the number of employees – by an average of 7 per cent. At the same time, 7 per cent of companies expect AI to increase the number of employees by an average of 8 per cent. Among companies that already use AI, 28 per cent expect a decline in the number of employees by an average of 7 per cent, while 9 per cent expect an increase by an average of 9 per cent. 57 per cent assume that AI will have no impact on the number of jobs. Around one third of all companies (31 per cent) believe that AI will help alleviate the shortage of skilled workers in Germany. ‘AI will change job profiles, and some will even disappear. In return, other new professions will emerge,’ says Wintergerst. “For the German labour market, with its challenging demographic structure and already high shortage of skilled workers, AI is a great opportunity: In the future, we will have more work than people can do. We need digitalisation and new technologies to remain competitive in business and efficient in administration.”

Currently, only 5 per cent of all companies specifically hire skilled workers with AI knowledge. Another 27 per cent have plans to do so, 24 per cent are discussing it, but for 43 per cent it is not an issue. And only 8 per cent offer AI training for all employees, another 21 per cent for the majority of employees and 25 per cent for selected employees. But 43 per cent have no such offerings. “Companies have a responsibility to build up AI expertise themselves. Every company should therefore provide its employees with further training in AI. Companies that use AI are even obliged to do so by the AI Act,” says Wintergerst.

AI hurdles: legal uncertainty, lack of expertise and no personnel

The biggest obstacles to the use of AI in the German economy are uncertainty due to legal hurdles and ambiguities (53 per cent), lack of technical expertise (53 per cent) and lack of human resources (51 per cent). 48 per cent complain about the high data protection requirements, 39 per cent are afraid that data will fall into the wrong hands, 38 per cent cite the lack of traceability of the results, 36 per cent cite the poor quality of the results, 36 per cent lack the money and 35 per cent are concerned about future legal restrictions on the technology. For 31 per cent, the lack of acceptance among employees is one of the biggest obstacles, 24 per cent lack data for AI use, 23 per cent see no use cases, and 17 per cent have ethical concerns.

For 9 out of 10 companies, the country of origin of the AI provider is important

For a large majority of 88 per cent of companies, the country of origin of the AI provider is important. Ninety-three per cent would prefer AI from Germany, followed at a considerable distance by the USA (51 per cent), Japan (43 per cent), EU countries other than Germany and France (40 per cent), France (38 per cent) and the United Kingdom (37 per cent), South Korea (29 per cent), Israel (27 per cent), India (22 per cent), Ukraine (19 per cent) and China (18 per cent). No company would consider AI from Russia. ‘Companies want AI providers from Germany. However, these will only be successful if they are as powerful as the offerings from abroad and competitively priced,’ says Wintergerst. ‘We in Germany must not resign ourselves to a role as an AI user country; we must become an AI provider country.’

A majority sees more disadvantages than advantages in the AI Act

However, companies are critical of the current AI regulation. 56 per cent believe that the European AI Act creates more disadvantages than advantages for German companies. 23 per cent of companies expect to be affected by the AI Act as users, 1 per cent as providers. 32 percent do not consider themselves affected by the AI Act, 30 percent are still reviewing it, and 11 percent have not yet dealt with the AI Act.

Of the companies that expect to fall under the EU regulation, 93 percent assume that this will involve a high level of effort for them: 49 percent expect very high effort, 44 percent expect rather high effort. Around one third of the companies affected (37 per cent) expect to operate one so-called high-risk AI system, while 29 per cent expect to operate two. Only 4 per cent expect to operate three or more high-risk systems, and 2 per cent have no high-risk systems. However, 29 per cent are unable or unwilling to comment on this at present. ‘With the AI Act, we need to quickly provide clarity for companies regarding the exact implementation. And companies need a contact person at the federal level who can support them in using AI in compliance with the AI Act,’ says Wintergerst. It is essential that the implementation deadlines for the high-risk requirements be postponed by at least two years. Due to a lack of standards and the resulting legal uncertainty, there is otherwise a risk of ‘a complete halt to innovation in the high-risk AI sector,’ according to Wintergerst. In addition, the high-risk requirements in already heavily regulated sectors such as medical devices and machinery should be made more flexible in order to avoid inconsistencies and redundancies with existing regulations.

What politicians should do for AI

Above all, companies want politicians to promote German AI providers (51 per cent), reform the AI Act (46 per cent) and improve access to data (45 per cent). Around one-third of companies would focus on promoting AI research (36 per cent), investing in AI computing infrastructure (34 per cent) and promoting the use of AI in administration and public authorities (31 per cent). Twenty-eight per cent advocate promoting the use of AI in the economy, 17 per cent promote AI start-ups and 6 per cent promote AI talent. Only 8 per cent believe that the government should not focus on AI. More than one in three companies (37 per cent) would even like to see a 10-year moratorium on AI regulation – an idea that has been discussed in the US. ‘We need a holistic strategy for promoting AI,’ says Wintergerst. ‘This includes becoming much more ambitious in terms of both the breadth of measures and the amount of investment.’

Bitkom invites you to the AI & Quantum Summit in Berlin

The use of AI is also the focus of Bitkom’s AI & Quantum Summit on 16 and 17 September in Berlin. More than 1,800 participants and over 200 speakers from business, research and government agencies are expected to attend. Among those attending are Dr Daniela Brönstrup, Vice President of the Federal Network Agency, Ana Paula Assis, SVP and Chair IBM EMEA and Growth Markets at IBM, Dr Antonio Krüger, CEO of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Benjamin Revcolevschi, CEO of OVHcloud, Daniela Theisinger, Managing Director at Deutsche Telekom Global Business, and Kenza Ait Si Abbou, AI expert, author and former CTO at FIEGE. Politicians Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Space, Roberto Viola, Director-General of DG CONNECT, and Kilian Gross, Deputy Director of the AI Office, will also be speaking.

All information about the AIDAQ programme is available online here: aidaq.berlin.

Note on methodology: The information is based on a survey conducted by Bitkom Research on behalf of the digital association Bitkom. A total of 604 companies in Germany with 20 or more employees were surveyed by telephone. The survey took place between calendar weeks 27 and 32 of 2025. The survey is representative.